Pure Pride gets welcome Flemington victory
Jockey Stephen Baster has completed a stakes race Flemington double with Pure Pride recording an impressive win.
Baster won the opening race, the Listed Maribyrnong Trial Stakes on debutant Nomothaj before Pure Pride won the Listed Paris Lane Handicap.
Pure Pride ($15) scored a two length win from Wyndspelle ($7) with Saint Valorem ($15) a length away third.
The Murray Johnson-trained mare was third emergency for the Group Two Blazer Stakes, but with two scratchings from the field didn’t gain a start.
Baster said Pure Pride’s record should be better than what it now stands at, two wins from 16 starts.
“Murray and the owners have suffered with this mare over the years and today I thought it was going to be the same,” Baster said.
“But she got the split a furlong out and exploded.”
Johnson said the mare was deserving of breaking through for a city success.
“I don’t have many horses to be running in these races, so it’s awesome,” he said.